Obama -- post 11 September
Captain Ed has an interesting post today about the Nw Yorker's coverage of Obama. At the end of the post he has the story about the time when Obama threatened to kick a colleagues @$$ while in the Illinois state Senate. We knew about that incident, and it shows that Obama has little tolerance for anyone who challenges him. What we were unaware of was his statement on 19 September 2001 regarding the attacks, and what we should have done in response to them:
We must also engage, however, in the more difficult task of understanding the sources of such madness. The essence of this tragedy, it seems to me, derives from a fundamental absence of empathy on the part of the attackers: an inability to imagine, or connect with, the humanity and suffering of others. Such a failure of empathy, such numbness to the pain of a child or the desperation of a parent, is not innate; nor, history tells us, is it unique to a particular culture, religion, or ethnicity. It may find expression in a particular brand of violence, and may be channeled by particular demagogues or fanatics. Most often, though, it grows out of a climate of poverty and ignorance, helplessness and despair.
We will have to make sure, despite our rage, that any U.S. military action takes into account the lives of innocent civilians abroad. We will have to be unwavering in opposing bigotry or discrimination directed against neighbors and friends of Middle Eastern descent. Finally, we will have to devote far more attention to the monumental task of raising the hopes and prospects of embittered children across the globe—children not just in the Middle East, but also in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe and within our own shores.
Poverty? Ignorance, helplessness, and despair? What the Hell?
He thought that those who hit us came from poverty? The 11 September hijackers all came from fairly well off families. Bin Laden comes from a family that makes millions of dollars in the construction field. Ayman al-Zawahiri also came from a wealthy family. Poverty isn't the reason the animals resort to violence. they take up the jihad because they believe the West is decadent, and has caused much of the suffering in their nations; in thinking this, they excuse the people running their country. Osama bin Laden even stated that the reason for this attack was the presence of Americans in the nation that had both Mecca and Medina within it's borders. This shows his utter ignorance regarding the facts that our enemies cited for their reasoning.
Their helplessness comes from their inability to foment change within their nations. We're not wrecking them, they are. As for his point regarding bigotry, there were a few hate crimes that were perpetrated against Middle Eastern people in the wake of the attacks on 1 September One was here in Arizona where some idiot killed a Sikh (Balbir Singh Sodhi) because he thought the man was a Muslim. (By the way, Frank Roque is serving a sentence of life without possibility of parole for Mr. Sodhi's murder.) But the general populace didn't delve into that level of bigotry. And our response was one that was warranted. We were justified in our military response.
He didn't want that. He wanted a kumbaya session where we all just get together and hug one another. That was not our mission. Our mission was to go out, and kill those that attacked us. He seems to think this war involved indiscriminate killing when in actuality, civilian casualties are, and have been, considerably lower than in previous wars. We have precision weaponry to specifically avoid killing civilians. Do accidents happen? You bet they do. It's a war. But as I said, contrast this war with past wars, and we have a very low civilian casualty level.
If this is the sort of leadership Obama is promising, thanks, but we'll take someone who understands the gravity with making tough decisions like the one President Bush made in response to the attacks.
Publius II
We must also engage, however, in the more difficult task of understanding the sources of such madness. The essence of this tragedy, it seems to me, derives from a fundamental absence of empathy on the part of the attackers: an inability to imagine, or connect with, the humanity and suffering of others. Such a failure of empathy, such numbness to the pain of a child or the desperation of a parent, is not innate; nor, history tells us, is it unique to a particular culture, religion, or ethnicity. It may find expression in a particular brand of violence, and may be channeled by particular demagogues or fanatics. Most often, though, it grows out of a climate of poverty and ignorance, helplessness and despair.
We will have to make sure, despite our rage, that any U.S. military action takes into account the lives of innocent civilians abroad. We will have to be unwavering in opposing bigotry or discrimination directed against neighbors and friends of Middle Eastern descent. Finally, we will have to devote far more attention to the monumental task of raising the hopes and prospects of embittered children across the globe—children not just in the Middle East, but also in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe and within our own shores.
Poverty? Ignorance, helplessness, and despair? What the Hell?
He thought that those who hit us came from poverty? The 11 September hijackers all came from fairly well off families. Bin Laden comes from a family that makes millions of dollars in the construction field. Ayman al-Zawahiri also came from a wealthy family. Poverty isn't the reason the animals resort to violence. they take up the jihad because they believe the West is decadent, and has caused much of the suffering in their nations; in thinking this, they excuse the people running their country. Osama bin Laden even stated that the reason for this attack was the presence of Americans in the nation that had both Mecca and Medina within it's borders. This shows his utter ignorance regarding the facts that our enemies cited for their reasoning.
Their helplessness comes from their inability to foment change within their nations. We're not wrecking them, they are. As for his point regarding bigotry, there were a few hate crimes that were perpetrated against Middle Eastern people in the wake of the attacks on 1 September One was here in Arizona where some idiot killed a Sikh (Balbir Singh Sodhi) because he thought the man was a Muslim. (By the way, Frank Roque is serving a sentence of life without possibility of parole for Mr. Sodhi's murder.) But the general populace didn't delve into that level of bigotry. And our response was one that was warranted. We were justified in our military response.
He didn't want that. He wanted a kumbaya session where we all just get together and hug one another. That was not our mission. Our mission was to go out, and kill those that attacked us. He seems to think this war involved indiscriminate killing when in actuality, civilian casualties are, and have been, considerably lower than in previous wars. We have precision weaponry to specifically avoid killing civilians. Do accidents happen? You bet they do. It's a war. But as I said, contrast this war with past wars, and we have a very low civilian casualty level.
If this is the sort of leadership Obama is promising, thanks, but we'll take someone who understands the gravity with making tough decisions like the one President Bush made in response to the attacks.
Publius II
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 4:29 PM
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